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Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council paid £1,052,226 in 2009/10 to staff and councillors and £1,017,815 the year before.
The figures, revealed by pressure group The TaxPayers’ Alliance, comes as managers battle unions over plans to lower the mileage rate to save £347,000.
They want to replace block payments for ‘essential users’ and 36.9 a mile ‘casual user’ payouts with a 40p flat rate, used by most in the private sector.
Yet Unison says it will leave those who regularly use their car for work £500 worse off a year. It is balloting members on strike action.
Most councils, 80 per cent, paid over 40p a mile with some paying as much as 65p. Lancashire County Council paid out most, £8.7m.
The council is cutting costs by 10 per cent with youth and social services hit.
Matthew Sinclair, director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Some authorities have shown that it is possible to save millions by cutting back to the rate recommended by the taxman.
“This is a quick and painless saving that won’t affect council services and will ease the burden on households, who’ve seen council tax double in the last decade.”
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